Sorry I could not find previous thread..I think Brad may have mentioned who to contact for info on whats happenning for the day at AK regarding operations on animals etc.:confused:

Sorry I could not find previous thread..I think Brad may have mentioned who to contact for info on whats happenning for the day at AK regarding operations on animals etc.:confused:

Many days they may not know too, having both worked at Disney in the AK and as a vet tech, schedules change. They may have a tentative one posted but nothing definite until that day would be my guess.

Let me see if i can find out through old contacts if there is someone to call.

:) What are you interested in trying to see?

What is this about? I am a Vet Tech and my dream is to come to WDW and work as one at DAK in some capacity, cleaning stalls, cuting up food for them or actually eventually making it into treatment.

We always take the backstage tour, which is great. Is there a special tour that can be scheduled when there are surgeries or procedures planned? WOW!!!!! That is something that I would be interested in. PLease let me know if this is what this question is about.
Susan

From my understanding it is not a tour, but you can go to this area and watch the vets take care of the animals, whether it is surgery or shots or whatever. Someone will correct me if I am wrong. I think you can see this on the WDW DVD planning video or it could have been one of the many shows on the Travel Channel. Also there is reference to this in some threads on MP. Try doing a search on it.

yellowrosedtxn has it.

You take the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch - and in the building they have the treatment areas. They generally have someone outside the window to ask questions of -and monitors as well so you can see better. When we were there they were doing surgery of some sort on a large bird, and they had the Xray up on one of the monitors for us.

I believe it can be tough to track down the procedures schedule - if I'm interested that day, I generally just go out to the area and see what is posted for that day. I was once told that most of the procedures are in the morning.

Many days they may not know too, having both worked at Disney in the AK and as a vet tech, schedules change. They may have a tentative one posted but nothing definite until that day would be my guess.

Let me see if i can find out through old contacts if there is someone to call.

:) What are you interested in trying to see?

My dd 12 desires to be a vet since she could speak and last time we were there they said we missed a lion having a tooth pulled...any checkups or operations she could watch would be thrilling for her..we go April so I was trying to see who to call when we are there.:)

the lion had 2 teeth pulled.. that was a fun day... normally they do about 3 procedures between 9:30 and 12:30.. that day, they did just the lion and it ran from 10 am to after 1 pm.

you can see my photos from the lion procedure starting here: http://bradk.smugmug.com/gallery/2552949_kTes9/1/134281302_isbra#134282254

to clarify, yes, schedules aren't actually finalized until 9:30 am or so (or at least that's when they're made official). the reason is that even though most of it is scheduled well in advance (every animal needs an (bi)annual physical, so there's pretty much procedures going on every day), emergencies happen. i've been there when the schedule has been changed after 9:30 too.

that said, since the schedule is only posted at conservation station and isn't posted anywhere else for whatever guest unfriendly reason, i've been able to get the schedule for the day after 9:30 without having to go to conservation station.

but i will promise you that after doing this a few times, it's so not worth the effort. you need to spend a good 10-20 minutes trying to convince the people you're talking to that they can find out the schedule. once you convince them to make a call, you're set, but i've never consistently had so many people so insistent that they can't find out the information.

but to bottom line it, if you aren't picky about what you see, just go. the first train should head over at 9:30 am or so. if everest isn't important, you can go FP the safari and head over to planetwatch

VERY cool pictures, Brad!! That must've been an amazing experience to see that in person.

We are derermined to see some exams! Planet Watch it is! THX ;)